We started Holly Creek Bee Ranch in 2014 and have been growing since. This hobby has rapidly turned into a sideliner beekeeping operation that we are passionate about. We are now focused on quality genetics and raising excellent bees.

In 2020 we purchased the Martha Carpentar Mite Mauler line of bees to help with our IPM. After seeing the positive results that these additions made to our operation, we have been working on our breeding program and have kept strong selection pressure on our stock to further it to become more mite and disease resistant. While we are not considering our operation “treatment free”, we believe our bees are a more mite tolerant bee because of the steps we are taking to improve our program.

The Martha Carpenter line of bees are well known for their ability to chew phoretic mites causing the mites to die. The bees’ mandibles are much stronger than that of some of the other races of honeybees. After purchasing a breeder in 2020, we saw a noticeable difference in our mite counts which was very welcoming in our apiaries. We have been pleased with what we are seeing from the F1 daughters and are glad to be able to share them with you.

In 2021 and 2022 we purchased some VSH virgin queens from Cory Stevens to add the VSH traits to our program. After running these for a few years now, we can see a tremendous improvement in our bees and their ability to suppress mites and brood diseases. Using drone semen from this line, we have been able to incorporate the VSH traits into the other lines and improve them as well. VSH is not a race or breed of bee but rather a set of traits that the bees carry that can be added to any race of bee.

In 2021 we started using instrumental insemination to help our program advance at a faster pace and to have more control over our genetics. Having this ability allows us to make the exact crosses that we are trying to achieve. Using various testing methods and assays, we can select the colonies that show the best hygienic traits, honey production, and temperament traits that we are looking for and breed from those. We believe diversity and host resistance are key components to overall colony health and survival.